Kanye West is back on Twitter. And in literary news, he’s decided to write a philosophy book, Break the Simulation and publish excerpts (or maybe the entire thing) on Twitter. There appears to be no release date or publisher attached so stay tuned.
Kanye West, Philosopher + Author
Am I Special?
“Perhaps I will just go underground and live a quiet life of desperation. I’ve heard mumblings about a place called ‘Social Media Manager.’ It seems like a nice place where all people my age go for a while. Just until things start to make sense again.” Nobody knows the throes of existential angst quite like a twenty-something. Here’s a plea for help from one such twenty-something over at McSweeney’s.
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Who Wouldn’t Want to Retire Here?
A retired Japanese couple has teamed up with an architecture firm to design “a house with a bookshop and a café where neighbors and visitors can stop by.” The result is a decidedly more spacious and well-lit version of Brazenhead Books – another domicile/bookshop.
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It’s All a Game
As you probably read last week, Elon Musk (founder and CEO of Tesla Motors and SpaceX) is sure that we’re living in a computer-generated simulation. Over at The New Yorker, Joshua Rothman takes a hard look and tries to determine the actual odds of humans inhabiting a simulated world.
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Centireading
“You can be acquaintances with many books, and friends with a few, but family with only one or two.” On rereading the same books – in this case Hamlet and The Inimitable Jeeves – 100 times.
Dealing with Bros
Wendy Willis advises us on how to deal with bros like Donald Trump and Robert Bly. Pair with Greg Chase’s recent piece on understanding the Trump supporter through Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury.
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Blooms of Darkness wins the Independent Prize for Foreign Fiction
Aharon Appelfeld, a prolific Israeli novelist, has won the Independent Prize for international fiction for his latest book, Blooms of Darkness. Check out our guide to this year’s award’s shortlist.